Explanation: Government has announced expansion of the MBP in all the districts with effect from 01.01.2017. It is expected that annually about 51.70 lakh beneficiaries would avail of the benefit.

Ministry of Women and Child Development, in accordance with the provisions of Section 4(b) of National Food Security Act, formulated a scheme for pregnant and lactating mothers called Maternity Benefit Programme - a conditional cash transfer scheme.

The Scheme provides cash incentives to pregnant and lactating women (i) for the wage loss so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery; (ii) to improve her health and nutrition during the period of pregnancy and lactation; and (iii) to breastfeed the child during the first six months of the birth, which is very vital for the development of the child.

2) Which of the following is/are true regarding Maternity Benefit Programme?

1) All pregnant women and lactating mothers including government employees will get the schemes benefit of compensation of wage loss.2) The cash incentive given is Rs.8000/-.

Explanation: Expansion of MBP will have huge impact on the PW&LM as it will not only provide them compensation for the wage loss but will also provide them adequate nutrition and rest before and after delivery.

Mothers will have sufficient time to breastfeed the child during first six months of the birth. Resultantly, it is expected that it will reduce mother mortality rate, IMR, under-nutrition and its adverse effects.

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and the cost sharing between Centre and States is 60:40 for all the States and UTs (with legislature), 90:10 for NER and Himalayan States and 100% GoI share for UTs without legislatures.

Under the scheme, all Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who are in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being are eligible.

The cash incentive of Rs. 6,000/- is payable in three instalments for the first two live births.

3) NICDIT is for

a. IT Section of Governmentb. Semiconductor and IC manufacturingc. Industrial Corridorsd. None of the above

Explanation: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the expansion of the mandate of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project Implementation Trust Fund (DMIC-PITF Trust) and its re-designation as National Industrial Corridor Development & Implementation Trust (NICDIT) for integrated development of Industrial Corridors.

NICDIT would be an apex body under the administrative control of DIPP for coordinated and unified development of all the industrial corridors in the country. It will channelize Gol funds as well as institutional funds while ensuring that the various corridors are properly planned and implemented keeping in view the broad national perspectives regarding industrial and city development, and will support project development activities, appraise, approve and sanction projects. It will coordinate all central efforts for the development of Industrial Corridor projects and will monitor their implementation.

DMICDC will function as a knowledge partner to NICDIT in respect of all the Industrial Corridors in addition to its present DMIC work, till Knowledge Partner(s) for other Industrial Corridors are in place.

An Apex Monitoring Authority under the chairpersonship of the Finance Minister will be constituted to periodically review the activities of NICDIT and progress of the projects.

4) Which of the following is/are true?

1) Health insurance is allowed for AYUSH treatment.2) However this insurance does not come under regulations of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and is managed by Ministry of AYUSH.

Explanation: Health Insurance Regulations, 2013 notified by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and further amended in 2016 enable General Insurers and Health Insurers for providing insurance coverage to AYUSH treatment provided the treatment has been undergone in a government hospital or in any institute recognized by government and/or accredited by Quality Council of India or National Accreditation Board on Health.

With these provisions, insurance companies may design products offering AYUSH coverage in their health insurance products and some insurance companies are reported to have been offering products for insurance coverage to AYUSH treatments.

Recently, on 30th September 2016, guidelines for insurance coverage to Ayurvedic treatment and settlement of claims on the basis of benchmark rates of various Ayurvedic therapies & interventions have been issued by the Ministry of AYUSH to insurance companies and Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority.

5) Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India is collaborating with whom for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring?

Explanation: Recognizing the importance of developing the online River Water and Air Quality Monitoring (WAQM) systems, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Intel are collaborating to jointly initiate “DST-Intel Collaborative Research for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring” soliciting proposals from Academic/Research Institutions and providing grant-in-aid support to the selected project(s).

The aim of this initiative is to develop key technologies for sensing, communication and analysis of large-scale data collected from autonomous networks of perpetual/long-lived sensor nodes, followed by integration and deployment for water and air quality monitoring in real-time.

The program will be administered by the binational Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF).